Free Gone: An Emma Caldridge Novella: Part Two of Three by Jamie Freveletti

 
    GONE
    E MMA C ALDRIDGE DROVE into the desert town of Sunrise City on the border between Arizona and Utah and wondered what caliber bullet would test her armored vest first. She passed a row of houses on her left and watched the curtains twitch aside as the residents followed her progress down the empty, silent streets that shimmered in the early morning heat. The town’s sheriff had already picked up her arrival, and she watched him track her, keeping one car length behind and holding a steady pace.
    The Jeep Wrangler with the camo paint job that she drove was a loaner from Edward Banner, CEO of Darkview, a contract security firm that operated dangerous missions the world over by way of a nearby military installation. The Dragunov sniper rifle nestled in a scabbard, and tucked between the seat and the transmission housing was another loaner from her friend Cameron Sumner, a member of the Southern Hemisphere Drug Defense Department. The armored vest that she wore looked like a denim vest, but it was woven of a reinforced silk fabric by a Colombian tailor who specialized in armored business suits. It was a gift from Carol Stromeyer, Darkview’s vice president.
    The Sig Sauer 9mm pistol in her shoulder holster was hers, as was the coffee nestled in the cup holder.
    Sunrise City was the enclave of the Children of the Supreme Son, a religious cult run by Emmet Shaw, a former insurance agent turned prophet, who claimed that he was the son of God and that to defy him was to court hell. Emma wasn’t afraid of hell, she’d stared into that abyss already while on Earth, and she’d do it again if required, but she was concerned about time. She needed to locate Sebastian Ryan and extract him before the Supreme Sons went to work on him.
    Emma had learned that Ryan was kidnapped a day after she’d returned from the Caribbean. His colleague at Axor Insurance, Janet Candar, had pounded on her door on Sunday morning wearing a look of exhaustion. Ryan’s clothes were found at the ocean’s edge, and he had been absent from work for two days without explanation. He’d told Candar about his wild night with Emma Caldridge, when the Children of the Supreme Son had chased both of them, and impressed upon Candar that if anything should happen to him she was to contact Emma immediately, because he’d likely been kidnapped. Unfortunately, the police didn’t see it that way.
    “They went to his house,” Candar had said. “It was undisturbed. An elderly neighbor said he often walked along the ocean in the morning. She said that he’d lost his wife to breast cancer and seemed despondent. When the police found his clothes by the pier, they concluded that he’d committed suicide.”
    Emma’d felt the beauty of the day turn dark. She liked Ryan and held even more sympathy for him now that she’d learned he had lost his wife. She had seen him standing at the water’s edge during her early morning runs, and in those solitary moments he had projected an air of barely contained despair. She recognized his grief, because she’d been the same way when her fiancé died in a car accident. Still, after having faced down danger with Ryan, she didn’t think he would kill himself.
    “They’re not looking for him,” Candar had continued. “Especially since we haven’t received a ransom demand.” She inhaled and straightened. “Ryan said that you knew people who were some sort of security force. He insisted that if anything happened to him, you be contacted and this force be hired to find him. Was he right?”
    Emma had nodded. “I know a group called Darkview, but I only work for them part-time and they don’t take domestic kidnapping cases. Those are a matter for the local police or the Department of Homeland Security. Darkview works with the Department of Defense on international matters. There’s no overlap.”
    “But if they transported him out of the country, would there be overlap?”
    Emma had shaken her head. “It still